I LOVE FREE STUFF!

I received a free lap in Sundays Niwot Criterium, unfortunately it was not exactly free. The price was one pair of bike shorts, a nice hip pointer, and a gouge in my right elbow.
About 15 minutes into the SM3's race the heavens opened up on us, but i'll get to that.

After a nice talk with my coach regarding my recent racing strategies, err I thing the term that was used was "stupid racing", I was making a serious effort to play smarter than in the last couple of races and maintaining position from 2nd to 5th wheel, rather than pulling the field around. This was a very technical course with 7 corners, two of which were greater than 90 degrees. I found out quickly that any position beyond 5th was too much work coming out of the corners so I decided make the effort and stay at the front, where it was still fast, but a much smoother and even pace. Sprinting 7 times a lap out of the corners is absolutely no fun, and can lead to brain damage due to lack of oxygen, and lactic acid buildup, and I can not afford to lose any more brain cells as you all might know. So, there we were, making circles, the pace was high, but not hold your puke back high, and all of a sudden the sky opened up. The first couple laps were a little interesting. Going from dry pavement one second to soaked asphalt the next required some creative cornering. In other words, hold on we going for a ride. Wheels slide even when you are cautious, manhole covers are like ice, even the striping on the pavement is slicker than @#$%. This combination with a pack of guys that are not afraid to take chance is a recipe for disaster. But, I was extremely surprised when the group throttled the racing back to reasonably fast, with brief periods of cautious. Well, that is until about 4 laps into the down pour when through the 2nd corner I lost traction in my front wheel. I had taken the same line through that corner the previous 3 laps with only a slight slip on the first just after the rain started. I had even backed it off more than the previous laps, as it was getting very slick. After sliding to a stop, I picked up the pieces, counted my fingers and toes, and checked for broken bones. Nope, nothing broken, shorts are shredded on the right hip, and the road rash isnt too bad. Hmm, elbow, ahh, there's a problem, a dime size hole spewing the red stuff, not so bad Ive had worse as a kid. The corner marshal held my bike I slipped the chain back on and I spun through the gears, and all was fine. I was standing there bleeding, sore, and pissed, thinking "man I was having a great ride". Then all of a sudden out of nowhere I had a moment of clarity, ok, lets not sugar coat it, I pulled my head out of my ass. I had to get back to the start, I had a free lap to use. I jumped on my bike and rode the gutter edge of the course backwards to the start, just hoping I would make it back in time to not go down a lap. The whole way back to the start, I was thinking, Im still in this thing. I got to the start finish, rolling by the Cheif Referee, showing my blood soaked elbow, and with no questions he just pointed to the pit area, and gave a encouraging "get to the pit". The guy in the pit asked if the bike was OK, we spun the gears again, and I was good to go. A quick clip in and a push when the lead moto passed and I was back in business. SWEEEEEET, right back where I was before I went down. RACE ON!
Now, the guys in the front hadnt changed, what had changed was that I had crashed, and I think they smelled, or could see blood. The next couple of laps there were quite a few attacks at the front where I was sitting, and it was quite an effort to maintain position. Another thing that had changed was the field, we were a 10 man break, wayyyy off the front of the main field. Apparently there were 7 crashes during the rain, which had now stopped and the field had been shredded. I had no idea we had pulled off like that, until during one lap I heard the announcer shout "this field has been blown to pieces". Well, cool, and next lap what do you know, as we hit the front straight towards the figure 8 portion of the course, where you can see the back straight, there was the main part of the field, a whole 1/2 a lap down. The pace however didnt let down, there were a number of attacks in our break, but it held together. With 3 laps to go I found myself in the familiar position of pulling the break. So I attempted to ease back and allow a couple guys by, but the guys in the break had other ideas, and jumped me. I lost 8 positions, and with 2 laps to go on this type of course, that was too much. The last 2 laps were super fast, and there was absolutely no where, or break in the pace to make up my lost ground. I ended up 8th in the sprint. Damn, but hey I finally broke the top ten in the 3's, and again I learned a lot about racing. Man life is good, my ars is sore, but life is good.